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Gao Yingxiang finally made the decision to retreat. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoIn fact, for thieves, it is common to defeat battles, and running away is even more common, and they have long been accustomed to this. Anyway, as long as the leaders and backbone elements can escape, it won't take too long to regain their strength, but the officers and troops are becoming weaker and weaker in the encirclement and suppression, and finally they are no match for the thieves.

But tonight's officers and soldiers obviously didn't want the thieves to escape easily. Forty rapid-fire guns were roaring incessantly, and the range of the attack gradually extended from Taniguchi to the south. Although the thieves began to retreat, the road was too narrow, and tens of thousands of troops could not say that they would run away. Especially their war horses, when they went up the mountain, it was already a big burden, and now they have to run back down the mountain, which has become a great obstacle.

Just as the thieves were shouting and neighing, the infantry formation of the officers and soldiers who rushed down the grass chain ridge along the bloody road cleared by the cannonballs had already chased after them through the valley. Although they were not moving very fast, they did not stand still, only pausing slightly when they were reloaded and the birds fired a salvo. And the thieves within a hundred paces in front of them have basically been killed by the shells, coupled with the rhythmic salvos of birds, they can't get close to resist at all, and they are really unstoppable.

Gao Yingxiang is also worthy of being a battle-hardened giant, and seeing that it is difficult to get rid of the officers and soldiers, he immediately ordered his subordinates to discard the food, property, and even weapons and armor they carried with them, and let the officers and soldiers pick them up. This trick is also a tried and tested hand by the thieves, because they know that the officers and soldiers who fight against them are also very poor, and when they see so many good things, they will definitely go desperate to pick up the spoils, even if the officers drink it, it is useless. At this time, they can take the opportunity to escape, and sometimes even kill back the horse pistol, and turn defeat into victory.

But this time the thief completely miscalculated. The officers and soldiers chased after this place, and without even looking at the things that were thrown all over the ground, without the slightest pause, they drove directly from above. Gao Yingxiang couldn't help but gasp, and secretly said that Sun Chuanting was really powerful, and the military discipline under his command was so strict!

It's a pity that Gao Yingxiang is really unlucky. If the chasing soldier was He Renlong, or even Zuo Guangxian, his set would be effective, but it was Xie Yong's Qin soldiers who were chasing him. The military discipline of the Qin soldiers is not only "17 prohibitions and 54 beheadings", but also the "three major disciplines and eight points of attention" under Zhu Youzhen, one of which is very important is "all seizures must be returned to the public". Violating this military discipline will result in direct dismissal at least and beheading for public display, so no one dares to defy the law.

And Xie Yong gave a death order, asking them to pursue the thieves all the time, and leave nothing else. He himself personally led a thousand infantry as the second echelon, closely following behind the first echelon. These two echelons together are only 1,500 people, but they chased Gao Yingxiang's 30,000 troops in a panic, which is really a wonder in the war throughout the ages!

Gao Yingxiang saw that this trick was ineffective, and he was really a little anxious. He wanted to order some of his subordinates to break off the rear and desperately resist the officers and soldiers, but he took the opportunity to escape; But after thinking about it, the thieves had poor military discipline, and now the whole army is like a frightened bird, I am afraid that I will not be so good at speaking, and whoever stays will not do it.

At this time, the soldiers who were covering his escape were suddenly blocked by several war horses that were unheeded and turned around in place. Everyone angrily opened their bows and arrows, and shot all these unlucky war horses to death, and was just about to go around, Gao Yingxiang suddenly had an idea, and shouted: "Concentrate hundreds of war horses for me, block the road, and block the way of the Northern Army!" ”

The thief is worthy of being an expert in sabotage, and he can't fight a war, but his kung fu is first-class. They immediately brought five or six hundred war horses, and were just about to slaughter them collectively and block the mountain road with horse corpses, but Gu Junen came up with a poisonous plan: tie the lit torch to the horse's tail, and then use a leather whip to whip it, poke it with a weapon, and even shoot the horse's ass with an arrow.

Of course, these war horses don't understand why the master who gets along day and night suddenly turns his face and wants to kill himself so much. Even in fear of pain, soon these war horses were frightened, and ran north along the mountain road for their lives. Although the mountain road is difficult to walk, the frightened horse really rushed in front of the officers and soldiers.

But although the horse is fierce, after all, it is flesh and blood, how can it be an opponent of bullets. The officers and soldiers were very short of war horses, and they also wanted to capture more of the thieves' war horses, but when they saw the startled horses galloping forward, they couldn't care so much, and immediately formed a volley.

Rows of buckshot fired mercilessly, and the horses that rushed to the front were immediately beaten into a sieve and fell to the ground neighing. Some of the frightened horses in the back could not hold their momentum and tripped over the horses in front; Some continued to rush forward, but they were also beaten to a bloody blur; More horses panicked, and some began to flee to the peaks on either side. But they are the kings of the grassland, but they are not good at mountaineering, and they fell from the steep mountain in a short time, breaking their bones and tendons.

Although it did not bring any harm to the officers and soldiers, this vicious horse drive trick did have an effect: the mountain road was completely blocked by the corpses of hundreds of war horses, and the officers and soldiers had no choice but to stop the pursuit. In addition, they had already chased for nearly ten miles, and were out of range of rapid-fire guns early. In the absence of artillery cooperation, there is also a certain risk of blindly chasing, so Xie Yong ordered the soldiers to clean up the road while sending people to ask Sun Chuanting for advice.

Not long after, Sun Chuanting also arrived with a thousand infantry, and forty rapid-fire guns were also being delivered one after another. He inspected the battlefield and nodded and said, "This battle has broken the morale of the thieves, and we just need to fight steadily in the future." Gao Yingxiang can't run far by walking at night in the dark, and our army can take advantage of the opportunity to clear the road to rest for a while, and then continue the pursuit at dawn. Gao Yingxiang probably thought that he could escape in this way, hehehe..."

Indeed, as Sun Chuanting expected, all the thieves, including Gao Yingxiang, have a feeling of the rest of their lives. Since the officers and soldiers did not chase after them, they absolutely did not dare to go back to provoke others, and just fled south with their lives. At this time, it was late at night, and Gao Yingxiang was afraid that he would be discovered by the officers and soldiers by lighting torches, so it was strictly forbidden to raise fire in the army. Tens of thousands of people walked in the dark, tired, hungry and cold, and they were miserable. Some of the wounded people couldn't walk and wanted to sit down and rest for a while, but as soon as they sat down, they never got up again.

When the sky was slightly bright, the thieves finally walked out of the Qinling Mountains. Gao Yingxiang ordered people to make a rough point, and when he came, it was a full 35,000 fine horses, and now there are less than 20,000 people and 15,000 horses left. Among them, 6,000 people followed Zhang Er and Huang Longer to "outflank them", and now they don't know where they are; The rest were either killed in the battle, or lost during the retreat, and lost tens of thousands of men! As for the war horses, not to mention, who can take care of these animals at this juncture.

Fortunately, the officers and soldiers did not chase after him, and Gao Yingxiang couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief. Not far in front of him was Luonan County, and he planned to lead the army into the city to take a breath first, and then retreat to Shangzhou. Although the loss is not small, there are still more than 100,000 thieves in Hanzhong, and he Gao Yingxiang still has capital.

But before Gao Yingxiang gave the order to enter the city, a cannon suddenly rang out at the head of the southern city, and the flag was unfurled. This place has long been occupied by the official army!